Toast is made when bread is heated to at least 154.4 degrees C. Once this temperature
is reached, the Maillard reaction begins and all the starches and sugars begin
to caramelize.

This effect used to be achieved by placing bread in iron holders and placing
over an open flame or hearthstone. This method became tedious. When the first
electric kitchen was unveiled it was still lacking a toaster.

In 1905 Albert Marsh developed Nichrome. This is a type of filament which is
made of 20% nickel and 80% chromium. This substance is silver-grey in color
and has a melting point of 1800 degrees C. This is so because it has a very
high resistance therefore allowing it to operate at very high temperatures.

In 1909 General Electric developed the first toaster called D-12. It placed the
nichrome in a casing with slots that would fit bread to be toasted. The first
model didn't have a thermostat so the toast often came out burnt. In 1919 advancements
were made and Charles Strite developed the pop-up toaster that had a timer
which would engage a mechanism to pop up the toast when it was finished so
it would no longer burn.

Further advancements were made in 1925 when the Toastmaster company patented
a toaster that could brown both sides of the bread simultaneously. In 1980
a toaster was developed that had wide enough slots to toast bagels and thick
bread. It also had heat resistant plastic and microchip controls which made
toasters more economically efficient than ever before. Toaster in the US
can operate at 103-120 Volts producing anywhere from 500-1500 Watts of power.